From the SpaceBus to a boat!
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Hah.. sorry about that. "Helm" is one word used for a few different things:
1. The place where the skipper stands and steers
2. The mechamism by which the boat is steered
3. The person actually doing the steering
By "dead helm", I meant that the skipper was as useful as a corpse, in that particular situation, he didn't even have his hand on the tiller as they were fretting over sails whipping in the wind.
What's real fun is when people start talking to a beginner in terms of "weather helm", and you sit there scratching your head, wondering what the hell they mean. Then one day you're out on the water, pulling hard on the tiller while trying to just go straight, and you figure out what they meant. It will all come in due time, if you pursue this hobby.
Taking the Thistle out tomorrow afternoon for some fast beating around the lake in 15 - 25 mph winds. My crew will be a Nationals-level skipper (former TCA President) and my 12-year old son. Should be fun!
1. The place where the skipper stands and steers
2. The mechamism by which the boat is steered
3. The person actually doing the steering
By "dead helm", I meant that the skipper was as useful as a corpse, in that particular situation, he didn't even have his hand on the tiller as they were fretting over sails whipping in the wind.
What's real fun is when people start talking to a beginner in terms of "weather helm", and you sit there scratching your head, wondering what the hell they mean. Then one day you're out on the water, pulling hard on the tiller while trying to just go straight, and you figure out what they meant. It will all come in due time, if you pursue this hobby.
Taking the Thistle out tomorrow afternoon for some fast beating around the lake in 15 - 25 mph winds. My crew will be a Nationals-level skipper (former TCA President) and my 12-year old son. Should be fun!
SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
Too gusty to get my hands on a camera and get any photos. Besides, I was one of only four boats on the entire lake on Saturday, and the other three were bigger keelboats. It was gusting very randomly and unpredictably up to 35 mph, no conditions for the faint of heart, but my son and I had a blast bashing around in it. Serious hang-on-to-your-chit sailing.
I think they still held racing in the morning, but the Thistle sailors I know decided to head back home before putting in, it was just too windy for such an overpowered boat. I ended up also leaving my Thistle home, took the smaller plastic boat instead, as it's much less likely to blow over and has a sail that can be reefed in a pinch.
SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
I remember you posting the rotomolded boats a while back. That will probably be our first boat for some lake sailing before getting something for bay and ocean sailing.
Yeah, I'd definitely recommend that, if you can find one you like. They're damn near indestructible. The only potential down-side to you would be finding on cheap second hand, as they're relatively new tech. Boat rental shops love them, due to the hull durability factor, but anything out of a rental shop may require some new fittings or repairs. There are many times more fiberglass boats than rotomolded boats, on the used market.
Check out RS Sailing. That's who made the little boat I bought for my kids, and I've become a huge fan of that. They have dealers scattered up and down the east coast, and plenty of rental places stock their boats, meaning you can try to before you buy. Their web site is nice, they have a polar plot of performance vs. stability vs. other parameters, to be a nice guide in choosing a model. If I were you, I'd be looking at something like their Quest:
RS Quest Sailboat –the best-seller for training or family sailing
The RS Quest is the best all round training dinghy that I have ever sailed, taught in or purchased. An absolute must for any training centre.
www.rssailing.com
Also, max capacities are typically uncomfortably crowded. Buy a boat with a max capacity of 3+, if you want to be even marginally comfortable with two.
So I'm on a narrow lake with close mountains. The wind corkscrews. I can look at a flag blowing 1 direction, look north 100 yards and another will be showing opposite wind direction. It makes for frustrating sailing. But every once in a while I get lucky with a strong wind out of the north or south. Today it was coming from the south. I grabbed the kid and took the mini fish out. We had a blast and as we were coming in we had to go through a channel. I'm tacking in a boat that doesn't like to tack and the channel suddenly got busy. I decide to get away from the channel. I came about and turn down into a nice reach and am scooting toward a sandbar. I think , "I can just skim over that if we yank the daggerboard! " I yell to the kid to pull it. At that moment a gust came up, and with the daggerboard half up I dumped it. I haven't flipped a boat in years! It was so much fun! I saw her sunglasses fly off and dove for them, forgetting mine were on my head. So 2 pairs of sunglasses were sacrificed. Heck of a good time though!
Yep... racing boats. The Thistle actually has almost exactly double the sail of that boat, and is only 20% longer. Now you know why I said they're tippy. Both classes have planing hulls with minimal chine to keep them planted in the water, they tend to get squirrely in shifty winds. I sail on a mountain-side lake with wind conditions no unlike yours, but we do have water deep enough to not have to worry about any channel navigation.
Here's a photo of a Thistle in light air with main and spinnaker up, where you can get a good look at the size of that main. Jib is pulled down, this is our normal downwind configuration.
![[Hearth.com] From the SpaceBus to a boat!](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/296/296596-d9fa791cd9472d1c7e735681c429934a.jpg?hash=NS88xIqK3w "[Hearth.com] From the SpaceBus to a boat!")
Here's a good video of some guys just beating around and reaching for speed. They capsize it a few times.
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SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
Young man's game. Or more often, middle-aged men trying to pretend we're still young.
This opinion seems to be so ubiquitous that it's somewhat surprising they haven't gone back to monohulls, already. It's still exciting, but for all the wrong reasons.
Check out the new Golden Globe Race, not to be confused with the Volvo Ocean Race (i.e. old Whitbread). The Golden Globe's aim is to get away from the blistering-high budgets that have taken over America's Cup and Whitbread (now Volvo), and pit pro crews against each other in "regular" boats that aren't designed to break by the end of the race.
Anyone ever watch BT Global Challenge? That was always my favorite. Those guys walked a real fine line between brave and suicidal.
You've got that right. I caught some parts of it a couple of years ago. A co-worker from before retirement was in it. He hurt his forearm pulling into Australia and had to drop out at that point. He was really bummed, but glad to have made it that far.
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